. but later on in the week, housing numbers final q3 gdp. keeping a close eyeonnewtown, connecticut,our hearts and prayers going out to the victims there. remembering those who lost their lives at sandy hook elementary in newtown. >>> a moment of silence observed at the new york stock exchange. in remembrance of those who lost their lives in the newtown, connecticut, shootings. ♪ [ male announcer ] you build a reputation by not breaking down. consider the silverado 1500 -- still the most dependable, longest-lasting full-size pickups on the road. and now we've also been recognized for lowest total cost of ownership -- based on important things, like depreciation, fuel, and maintenance costs. and now trade up to get a 2012 chevy silverado all-star edition with a total value of $9,000. from outstanding value to standing the test of time, chevy runs deep. >>> time for the "mad dash" on a monday morning. apple gets an inordinate amount of attention. but it's not the sole source of pain. >> no. i'll tell you something, carl, we used to try to figure out who is in the apple device. tear it d

their lives in the sandy hook elementary school shootingsinnewtown, connecticut.to the best vacation spot on earth. (all) the gulf! it doesn't matter which of our great states folks visit. mississippi, alabama, louisiana or florida, they're gonna love it. shaul, your alabama hospitality is incredible. thanks, karen. love your mississippi outdoors. i vote for your florida beaches, dawn. bill, this louisiana seafood is delicious. we're having such a great year on the gulf, we've decided to put aside our rivalry. now is the perfect time to visit anyone of our states. the beaches and waters couldn't be more beautiful. take a boat ride, go fishing or just lay in the sun. we've got coastline to explore and wildlife to photograph. and there's world class dining with our world famous seafood. so for a great vacation this year, come to the gulf. its all fabulous but i give florida the edge. right after mississippi. you mean alabama. say louisiana or there's no dessert. this invitation is brought to you by bp and all of us who call the gulf home. can i still ship a gift in time for christmas? yeah,

innewtown, connecticut.>> yep. >> we're all hugging our children a little more tightly this season. >> and everything's on the table. >> as an outdoorsman, i think we need to completely rethink guns in america. >> i think we need to protect our kids at the school, though. everything's on the table. >> our thoughts and prayers are with the families in newtown. >> thank you both very much. right now it's time for "squawk on the street." good morning. welcome to "squawk on the street." which debuted on cnbc's seven years ago today. happy anniversary to us. i'm melissa lee with carl and jim cramer and david faber live from the new york stock exchange. let's look at how we're setting up after yesterday's rally. particular strength in yesterday's rally. we didn't get housing starts, that's earlier today. as for the picture in europe, really the stand outout here is the euro. greece getting a five notch upgrade at the s&p. our road map this morning starts with gm. government motors no more. the treasury to exit its stake in the next 12 to 18 months, purchasing 2 million shares by the end

the bushmaster rifle used by the shooter. all dpuns have been removed from storesnearnewtown. alot of debate about the degree to which private equity has inserted itself into the debate. some investors may be rethinking their position on investing in companies like freedom, and certainly you read the statement from service -- >> it's straightforward. very interesting story. if you get a change in heart on the part of the pension funds that make up so much of the funds for private equity, not to mention, by the way, hedge funds and other investors out there, you could see some ramifications. this certainly may be one of them right here. the company saying as a result of the sandy hook tragedy, which they call a watershed event, that has raised the national debate on gun control at an unprecedented level, they have determined to engage in a process to a southern investment to freedom group. largest manufacturer of guns in the country. 15% of sales roughly to walmart, and about 3,000 employees, $237 million in sales as of the third quarter that ended september. just to put it in perspective for

ofthenewtowntragedy?it's hard to say. >> but it may be a combination of all of those. we got a sense from the guests we brought on earlier this week, on monday, that it was not a great holiday selling season, as we ended the last day before christmas. and all those may be the reasons, carl. i'm positive i didn't think people really understood the fiscal cliff. i may have been wrong. perhaps it was something that weighed on people's minds. the weather always at issue. it could actually have been warmer weather as well that contributed. we've had some analysts say that because people don't feel they have to go out and buy a coat. >> because it will never get cold again. >> except today, when it's 28 degrees. we'll see how after christmas does. internet also, it doesn't appear as online sales are up as p as anticipated. and perhaps they made up for the loss of the brick and mortar. >> you were pointing out before the show, luxury was not immune to this. you would think it would be more in tune to the consequences a cliff. >> you can take a look at the mid-atlantic and northeast regions, thos

, the fiscalcliff,newtown, connecticut,what happened up there, that's the gem feeling overall. jcpenney, they've had promotions walking away from it every day, low discount price story. oppenheimer noted discount racks had been cleared and the traffic seems to have improved in that store. maybe that change in their philosophy has helped them out. that's a note that was out on oppenheimer today. bottom line here, guys, is i think we are seeing some movement with some companies to deal with some of these retail sales issues. you'll see a lot of pressure on margins. david, i think you mentioned this, about what was going on with inflows and outflows from equity mutual funds. it's true we're continuing to get outflows from equity mutual funds. that's certainly been disappointing. we had it going through up until last week. the end of last week, it was reported the first outflows from treasuries. more specifically, from general bond funds. that's the first time we've seen this in a very, very long time. all right, it was a very small number, something on the order of $1 billion or something

is the ticker on this of course, troubles surroundingthenewtown, connecticut,shooting a lot of sellers on that stock during that period of time, today, issuing another $15 billion, expand its buy back program which it just announced with its fiscal second quarter results, announced 20 million share -- $20 million worth of buy backs and expand that to 15. nice gain on the shares. >> >> a big winner for the year. look at that chart. >> all handgunmakers, talking about this before, how ironic you can the obama administration was seen strict irbefore the elections and hand brought forward the dematte manned that might have been in the future, people wanted to bite hand guns. >> always the case. any time the debate over gun control flares up. >> does the framework of the "wall street journal" piece tell us anything new about best buy, sears? >> for sears, we have seen them cut costs, cut costs, sears and the kmart stores. it seems that this year the reckoning, the kmart operation, people have lost track of that if you send people inside kmart today, i think you basically find a relatively h